


And Ye Shall Find

by Matrix_Matriarch



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Asexual Aliens, Asexual Relationship, Binomial Data Transfer | Transformer Kiss, Could be Queerplatonic, Decepticon dynamics, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, Multi, Outlier Abilities, Pre-War Cybertron, Seekers, Sparks, Trines, robot intimacy, spark merge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-08-23 19:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20247856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Matrix_Matriarch/pseuds/Matrix_Matriarch
Summary: A collection of one-shots about airplanes that transform into robots. Eventually I intend to write one for every Seeker in the franchise. Tags to be added with each oneshot.





	1. G1 Starscream/Skyfire

**Author's Note:**

> While searching for his lost partner in Earth's snowy wasteland, Starscream thinks back to a close moment shared with Skyfire on HD 189733b, the planet that rains glass.  
Advice and Criticism always welcome!

_A warm white servo encloses around the small blue one. Below them, an alien planet’s sunny surface shimmers with oranges and yellows as the desert sand is whisked up. A storm is brewing. Starscream’s sharp optics turn from the datapad he was gazing at and meet with Skyfire’s own._

_“What is it?” His words are coarser than he intended them to be, but his partner knows him too well to be offended by the guarded tone._

_“Look.”_  
_._

Dappled indigo shadows stark against the wide white wasteland stretch out below him. Starscream’s ailerons are beginning to go numb at the tips, low energy warnings flashing across his HUD. This innocuous planet had seemed so promising, its materials showing potential for Energon harvest, it should have been a simple enough mission. Now all he can do is keep searching, searching…  
_._

_Starscream looks. The sand has coalesced darkly in the upper stratosphere, and within the safety of the observation pod readings indicate the outside temperature has skyrocketed to well over 1.5 thousand Drelms. Shocks of lightning begin to thread themselves through the sandclouds, fusing particulates in a plasma of dust. Though the yellow dwarf this planet orbits is now blocked out by the superheated sand clouds, there is enough light from the electrical storm and occasional breaks in the cloud cover for the pair to see by._

_The first drop falls. Then another, then another. Molten glass rain, sparkling in a vibrant blue with the light of the binary star system. The same blue that had shown up on a spectrograph last Vorn and led them all the way out here, to explore and report on this remote sector of space._

_“It… Seems conclusive that the blue spectroscopy is not the result of Energon crystals.” Starscream notes. “This has been another pointless excursion.”_

_“It hasn’t been completely pointless, has it?” Skyfire’s optics flicker with warmth. “Energon isn’t the only thing to appreciate as scientists out in the field, and besides, researching the geology and weather patterns of these exoplanets is fascinating and beautiful, especially when I’m doing it with you, my esteemed college.” The tease in his tone is not lost on his companion._

_Outside, the storm of molten glass torrented against the observation pod’s outer shell with scorching ferocity, but the climate inside the pod remained carefully controlled to protect its residents. Despite this, Starscream felt warmth spreading through his spark._

_._

Cycles of scanning, pushing his equipment to its limits, desperately investigating every inch of the planet he came across, only to yield nothing.

Nothing but endless ice, rock and frigid wilderness, barren and unsympathetic. As his energy spirals below the level required to transform, he continues to trudge, one pede in front of the other. Onwards. The echoing crunch of every step against the snow mocking him in the loneliness of the sound; no accompanying steps behind him to provide comfort, just endless white. White as the mech he was yearning to see.

Each one of his intermittent comms are met with aching silence, and a dispassionate terror meanders its way into his spark chamber, freezing as the landscape before him, leaving him numb and so lost, lost in the impossible futility of his search.  
_._

_“Sometime,” Starscream began as he shuffled closer to Skyfire, the data pad forgotten, “I’ll rule the world – don’t give me that look! I will! - And_ you _will be beside me, Skyfire.”_

_Skyfire’s chuckle is light and melodious. “Stars… I don’t need the world. Just…” One servo traces down the distinctive seams on Starscream’s dark faceplates which run from beneath his ruby optics, marking him as a Seeker. The other graces the amber glass of his cockpit, absently meandering over it._

_Beyond the viewing surface of the pod, breaks are beginning to emerge in the plumes of fusing sand, the light of two suns merging in the sky together lighting up the liquid marbles raining down with greater vividness than ever before. The azure light perfectly compliments the silvery sparklight spilling forth from Skyfire’s chamber as he bares his most vulnerable and purest self to his more svelte lab partner in waves of calming hues rippling out from the sphere burning at his core, gentle encouragement being pushed out with them. Starscream follows suite, and Skyfire swears his internal mechanisms twist with joy to see the most-times guarded Seeker in this most honest and open state, the luminescence of the perfect ice-blue orb that all cold-constructed mechs have laced into the filtered sunlight catching the gold of his cockpit with the seaglass gleams in radiant fire, wild and strong. Starscream’s spark may be manufactured identically, but it burned with an independent fervour that Skyfire warranted was matched by no mech._

_Tenderly, he brushes his digits down the edge of one wing, guiding Starscream closer, closer until they are warm against each other, cobalt servos tracing transformation seams and pulling inwards, charcoal-grey dermas softly claiming union with silver ones in a direct binomial data transfer. At that moment, their sparks align in a glorious blaze of mutual adoration, as they cling to each other like vices, chestplates pressed so tight the glow from within is sealed inside. Starscream’s electromagnetic fields, seemingly strong and defiant, press forward with the usual tentativeness he shows in such moments as these. No matter how long they’ve been together, he always seems to half expect it all to be a degrading trick._

_Skyfire returns the push with an enveloping reassurance and affection of his own, smoothing away Starscream’s fears, rejecting nothing Starscream puts forth but gently soothing his worries and frets about their work, about the tensions in Kaon, about the dangers and socio-political minefield he constantly puts himself through in his ambitions. In return, Starscream leans into the field with his own, unabashed appreciation showing through. Skyfire had been the only mech to persist through the many carefully guarded facets of Starscream’s nature to actually understand the prickly scientist, and for that he was grateful._

_Starscream breaks contact with Skyfire’s derma and rests his helm in the crook of the larger mech’s neck cables as they watch the final shimmers of the molten storm together. Skyfire’s arms around him are a heavy comfort he wouldn’t allow himself from any other mech._

_The glass storm outside the pod eases off, and the shuttle takes the hands of the jet into his own once more as they part and close their chambers._  
“After we document the next planet, come back to Cybertron with me. You’ll stay by me, won’t you, Stars?”  
_._  
Starscream had only managed to cover half the surface of this backwater planetoid when a message from Cybertron invaded his comms.

**The war has started. Come home. Aid the Decepticon cause.**

His HUD demanded that he be refuelled or he would risk offlining. That wouldn’t do; he couldn’t search for his missing partner if he went offline. He resigned to ping a request for assistance and emergency supplies. They wouldn’t allow him to keep searching once he arrived, but the scientist within him told him the logical course of action was to keep himself alive. Prioritise. Live to look for Skyfire another day.

It always ended like this. Selfish choices. Or rather, options limited so that the only choice he could make is a selfish one. Surely this wasn’t another betrayal. Not this time. Never… He would never abandon him. He would understand, wouldn’t he? Of course he would. Skyfire forgave everything. Starscream would return as soon as he could, use all his powers of persuasion to find him. All would be well.

“Coming home will have to wait. I will return to Cybertron after all, but I have no home without being by your side, my friend…”


	2. Skywarp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skywarp's doubts about the shifting sands of Cybertronian pre-war politics leave him anxious about joining the cause - an anxiety he vents through viscous pranks played on his new comrades. Megatron has a suggestion for how to re-direct that creativity.

“I don’t think this is a good idea.” The habsuite’s lighting was low, and since their trine commander had left, Skywarp and Thundercracker had it to themselves. The darker Seeker was looking at the other concernedly, worry plainly knitting his faceplates into a frown. It wasn’t often that he took such a serious tone, and it made his blue companion return a look of equal concern.

“What do you mean, ‘Warp? Don’t tell me you’ve finally pulled a prank you actually regret? I thought the day that happened would be the day Kaon’s smelting pools freeze over!” Thundercracker’s attempt at lightening the situation is met with a scowl.

“I will _never_ regret my artform, TC. ‘Sides, I’m being serious! Us joining these mechs, these ‘Cons’… I know Starscream thinks it’s great, but… Well, he’s _Starscream_. We only just trined the mech and he’s clearly got his own Titan-sized supply of issues, not least of which would be the obvious priority of his ambitions over the safety of us, his own trinemates!”

“That’s uh… That’s gotta be an exaggeration ‘Warp, Starscream isn’t such a bad mech… He saw potential in us, right? He found us and chose us, and now we’re not doing so bad… We’re Decepticon High command. We’ll change the world. I think.”

“Aw, TC, you don’t hafta try to comfort me into thinkin’ I’ve made the right decision, I ain’t some protoform! I know you’ve got your doubts too.” Thundercracker’s optics fall to his servos and his wings shift ever so slightly downwards. Skywarp feels a stab of guilt. “I’m sorry TC, I don’t mean ta make things difficult… You know that! Look, I’ll just… Head out for a walk.”

“Oi, no, ‘Warp, don’t be like that—” Thundercracker protests quickly.

“Nah, I’m not mad TC, don’t worry. I just need to clear my processor. I’ll be fine.” With that, he escapes the habsuite and the worried light of his trinemate’s optics following his backstruts out the door.

After warping down to the most abstract tunnels of the temporary Decepticon outpost, having to duck under several low-hanging pipes, dodge exposed wiring and steer clear of suspicious-looking puddles of fluid sure to wreak havoc with his paintjob, a hand on his wing startles him as he cycles up his warp drive as a reflex, which he immediately powered down upon recognising the mech he’d whirled around to see as his new leader, Megatron of Tarn.

“Easy there, Skywarp. I mean you no harm.” Megatron’s laugh is light, and effectively calms the jumpy Seeker. Despite his Tarnian accent, he is well-spoken, though he lacks the pretentious chime of the upper class. “Have you, perchance, seen your trine leader, Starscream, around?”

“I, uh, wuh?” Skywarp curses his warp drive’s tendency to leech his processing power. Inarticulate garble is the last thing he needs when he’s trying to seem normal in front of a mech known for thriving off tension and confusion.

“Take your time.” Megatron’s optics glow with amusement.

“Sorry boss, I, uh, that is… You startled me.” Skywarp’s sleek black wings sink down on his backstruts in embarrassment. He had wanted to clear his head, spend time not thinking about this faction he’d just joined (or not thinking in general). This was not what he had envisioned. “…I thought Scre- Starscream was in a meeting with you?”

“He was supposed to be, but alas, he is not. Though since he does not seem to want to spend the necessary time to discuss strategies with me, perhaps we can take some time to talk instead?”

“Er… What about?”

“My Communications Officer tells _me_ that a little birdy told _him_ you’ve been having some concerns since joining our cause recently. Is this true?” He knows. Of course he knows. Megatron is always so articulate, always having just the right words; he knows everything.

“It… Might be.” He scuffs his pede on the dingy floor. “I mean, I’m grateful for everything the ‘Cons have done for us, obviously, but… I don’t wanna be rushing into things. Everything’s happening faster than I’m used to – It wasn’t that many cycles ago I was still just another student at the Academy trying to hone my outlier ability and find a semi-decent trine, now me an’ TC and Starscream are all caught up in your fight. I gotta be honest, I don’t like it.”

“Of course not.” Megatron smiles, smooth as glass. “You’re not the type to be caged in by anything, or anyone. This must be quite an adjustment. But my cause _is_ about freedom, you must remember that. I wouldn’t want a mech among my ranks to feel constricted by the very cause that aims to liberate them. Perhaps you will feel better if you can emancipate your surplus frustrations.”

“Uh?”

“Let loose a little, Skywarp. You hold yourself quite tensely.” He’s running a heavy miner’s hand down Skywarp’s sleek Vosian wing once more, guiding him down an identical corridor to the ones he’d just been walking through. “We recently brought in a rather radical Autobot who has nothing nice to say about the Decepticon effort. In fact, he won’t say anything at all, which is hardly ideal, seeing as he happens to know where a major energon transaction will be taking place which we intend to hijack to fuel our soldiers. Since you clearly have so much pent up energy in that warp drive of yours, perhaps you can focus that energy towards loosening his glossa.”

As Megatron comes to the end of his explanation, they are met with what Skywarp recognises to be the doors to the brig. They slide aside with rusted inefficiency. “Just what are you askin’ me to do here? Torture the mech?”

“The other cycle, Scrapper came to me claiming you had warped in behind him and tipped him helm over pedes down ten flights of stairs before he could even see it was you. Just that morning the Terrorcons reported their energon rations had been replaced with rust shavings. Yesterday the washracks were causing paintjobs to dissolve, and before that medical equipment had been tampered with to give fatal diagnoses. Nothing can be proven, but I’d warrant you like to play with others, even if you don’t play _well_ with others.”

Skywarp approaches the holding cell and eyes up the prisoner through the polarised forcefield. He was a grounder, his optics darting every which way, terror seizing the mech’s movements as he shifted in the stasis cuffs. Skywarp hadn’t tortured anyone before. He wasn’t that kind of mech. But that wasn’t what this was. A bit of messing around never hurt anyone.

“Excellent work Skywarp. I’m glad to see you seem much more relaxed in your demeanour now, you must have enjoyed yourself.” Megatron smiles sharply, activating the access panel to the Seekers’ room and gesturing for the purple mech to enter.

“Thank you, Lord Megatron. I’m feelin’ much better. Glad we had that chat!” He waves a black servo casually as he takes a seat next to Thundercracker on the berth, who glances up from his datapad, optics tracking between his trinemate and his Lord.

“Should you feel worries building up again, please don’t hesitate to approach me immediately in the future. I’m sure I’ll be able to find something to ease your preoccupied processor.” With that, Megatron takes his leave.

“Not so worried now, huh?” Thundercracker asks. “What was that about?”

“Nah. Megs ain’t so bad I guess… He gets me. Maybe we can stick with these Decepticons a bit longer.”

“You sure?” The concern is plain on the Thundercracker’s pale faceplates. “You were gone a pretty long time… Stars popped by. Asked after you. Did somethin’ happen?”

“Nah.” Skywarp swings his frame off the berth and strolls over to the sink, working some dried energon out from his servo joints. There wasn’t a chance of Thundercracker seeing what he was cleaning from the way he was stood, wings fanned out and shielding his servos from view. “How’s your schedule? If you could make a distraction in the mess hall while I put bitter silicon additives in the rations that’d be great.”

“’Warp! You can’t keep doing this stuff, you’ll make enemies!”

“Yeah? Watch me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow this getting bookmarks already is really nice, thank you!  
For this chapter I wanted to explore how IDW Skywarp is presented as more than just a prankster. Sometimes aloof, sometimes jittery, he's quite a complex character. Much like TC, he tires of the war, of the minefield of backhanded treachery which the Decepticon faction had become, and decides to join the humans on Earth. However, it's clear that this is a much more difficult process for him, as he finds it hard to connect with his teammates and open up. Poor mech.


End file.
